Renewal Through Socialization: A Case of Strategy as Wayfinding

Abstract

Family businesses are known to rely on informal ways of working for maintaining their entrepreneurial spirit over time. In recent decades, scholars have challenged conventional planning-approaches to strategy and proposed alternatives to it, such as wayfinding. This approach centers around social practices, focusing on strategy- making unfolding from everyday activities. Drawing on socialization theory and a real-time case study in a family business, we elaborate upon three socialization processes to better understand entrepreneurial strategy- making: Strategy as embedded in daily practice; renewal when family members manage together; and strategy- making as an ordinary part of family business life. This paper’s contribution lies in exploring socialization theory for improving our understanding of the unintentional and indirect aspects of strategy-making.